Tribulation Travels
by King Bokira
Summary: The pokeworld had always been changing, a fact unbeknownst to many of those who traveled it. Unluckily for Takari he managed to set off at a time the most negative changes were coming into play. How could a simple journey turn into a battle to live?


Takari Kagane's sapphire blue eyes gleamed with excitement as he sped his way through the beautifully colored grassland known as Viridian Field. His current mode of transportation, a bike covered completely in dark blue aside for its black logo lurched as he rode through the green expanse.

Had it been any other day he would have gotten annoyed with his bike shifting each time he pedaled but his ability to even grow irritated had withered away around the time he had left Viridian City.

Getting irritated would be foolish anyway since he had chosen to ride through the grass instead of taking the dirt road about twenty yards to his left.

Though incredibly dangerous he had wanted to see the various pokemon who made their home in the large field, and to a lesser degree see what exactly it felt to ride off road.

Normally he would have just taken the dirt trail and followed it until he reached his destination; Pallet Town.

To his extreme satisfaction though, today was anything but the usual.

It was the tenth anniversary of his birth, and more importantly, in his opinion at least, the day he would receive his first Pokemon.

How he had forgotten he would never know, especially since his dreams had been plagued with what Pokemon he would choose as his starter, but nonetheless he had forgotten and had lounged around the house until he had been reminded by his groggy younger brother.

The only thing he had gotten out his late leave was the few extra hours he had needed to watch the Johto Silver Conference, the Johto equivalent to the Indigo Plateau Pokemon Tournament in Kanto.

Aside from his late leave though today had been unnaturally pleasant, almost as if the gods had decided today would be one of the loveliest days of spring.

Though he could never say he had been very acquainted with Viridian Field, due to him only venturing out there twice that he could remember, he had never seen it so beautiful.

The field looked almost like a green sea in his eyes. Though he could only say he had seen a few pokemon, most of them being sandshrew, the wild was tons more diverse than the city.

Being that he was trekking through it to get his first pokemon made it only the icing on the cake however.

Takari's eyes shifted to his left as he heard the sound of something running through the prairie grass. Out of the corner of his eyes he'd noticed a small purple blur, rapidly rushing through the tall grass.

When he had completely turned his attention away from his the things ahead of him, he saw a large purple rat running through the green expanse alongside him.

If he had been anybody else he probably would have been curious at what type of Pokemon, or if it was even a Pokemon at all but the organism running beside him was nothing new to him; it was a Rattata, one of the more common Pokemon in Kanto.

Even though it was nothing new to him though, he couldn't help but feel a bit of curiosity welling up as the rat continued to keep up. Though Takari could say he had been examining the Rattata for at least a minute now, he was sure that the rat had not taken a bit of notice to him.

To at least get a moment of the Rattata's attention, he released a low whistle.

The Rattata, who had been clearly focused where it was going, looked up at him watching curiously as he kept pace with it. The Rattata slowed its pace slightly, now positioning itself between both of his wheels, instead of moving on par with Takari's bike's front wheel as it had been doing moments before.

For one moment he and the Rattata's eyes met, then the Rattata blasted ahead of him with a burst of speed, not once looking back at him.

In that one moment Takari had gotten the gist of what the Rattata wanted to say through its sneer. It had told him '_you're nowhere near as fast as me_'.

Takari being one not to turn down a challenge stood up on his pedals and started pounding at them with each push of his legs. Before he even realized it he had once again found himself right beside the Rattata, watching it as it looked surprised at him.

They both put on a burst of speed in an attempt to lose their unwanted other, and sped on through Viridian Field, not once noticing anything else in their surroundings besides one another.

This went for a good seven minutes before Takari started to feel the effects of his prolonged rapid speed riding. As he started to gasp for breath, the Rattata pulled a distance ahead of him.

Finally sitting down back on his seat Takari released the best sigh he could manage as he slowed his pace a little more, which ended with him almost cringing as he saw the distance between him and the Rattata widen.

As the rat pulled farther and farther ahead of him he found his pride taking a major blow.

In a clearly disappointed tone, he said, "I lost to a Rattata." "Toshima would definitely be laughing at me right now"

Almost as soon as a sad look had made its way to it face it changed into a smile again. "I won't let that jerk ruin my day." He would make sure not to mention his rival for the time being just to make sure his day went smoothly.

Almost suddenly the Rattata disappeared out of his sight, only for it to appear running next to his bike. "Rararattata", in what Takari felt was an amused tone, though he could never be sure since he did not understand the odd language of pokemon.

Then the Rattata's tone changed and Rattata went back to talking in its language. "Rattatatat ra ratta rattata".

When the confused look on his face conveyed that he did not understand what the Rattata was jabbering on about, it gestured forward with its tail. Looking ahead he spotted a large tree on a hill, standing majestically above all the other trees in and around Viridian field.

He immediately realized that the Rattata was challenging him to a second race, this time with the tree as the goal, instead of subjecting him to another bout of endless racing until one of them tired.

Takari, now refreshed, returned to the standing position on his bike, and quickly started pedaling like a man who had been graced with insanity.

The look on his face was that of one having a great time as he road through the field. Not a single worry flickered across his faced as the strong north winds blew through his long white hair.

Though he had already been graced with the feeling in he and the rattata's first race, it had far more subdued. Even he didn't know why but their second race had pulled far more out of him. That might have just because he, had all the while he had been racing he had been getting nearer and nearer to Pallet Town.

Sadly as he neared the tree he found his giddiness to be wearing down a bit, possibly do to the fact tht he realized he hadn't seen the Rattata for a great deal of time.

Though he could not be too sure he assumed the rattata was behind him because he saw no signs of it ahead or beside him.

By the time he had arrived at the tree, he was flabbergasted to see the Rattata already there. To add salt to the injury the Rattata was laying against the tree with a long blade of grass protruding from the side of its mouth.

"You... how did you get here so fast." By the time he had finished asking the question he had already realized the answer to it. The Rattata had either learned or already known quick attack.

Had he been not too caught in the races he most likely would have realized what the Rattata would be capable of doing using it but alas he was a very focused person, and realization usually never hit him until after a failure.

Before he could do anything else, the sound of rumbling echoed in both his and the rattata's ears. Grinning sheepishly, with a tint of rose on his cheeks, Takari looked at the now amused rattata.

In less than five minutes Takari had a full picnic, minus the basket, laid out on a picnic cloth. Still laying across the tree the rattata tried to subtly eye the food. It obviously was no good at being subtle because Takari had long noticed that the cool attitude it had tried to maintain had faded away around the time he had unpacked the food.

It now scrutinized the food when it thought he wasn't looking.

"You're hungry aren't you." It was a rather dumb question to ask since it was a rat he was talking to, but he felt asking would be a courtesy that the rattata deserved. But then again his teacher at the pokemon academy had long told him that pokemon despised being treated like dumb animals with no

intelligence of their own.

So unless he wanted to get bitten by the two prominent teeth that the rattata possessed, he might as well talk to it as he would anybody.

In reply the rattata said "ratta ratt raratta" in manner that felt like it was saying it didn't want to impose. Its next words were what through him off guard. It had felt like it had almost said 'well if you insist'. His assumption was only fortified when the rattata got up from its spot under the tree and walked towards his picnic basket.

Reaching into his bag, Takari pulled out a bag that filled to the brim with pokemon food. His mother, being the worrisome type had packed him a bit too much food for the 'just in case situations'.

After pouring into a bowl, Takari watched as the rattata rapidly purged itself of its hunger.

By the time the he had just started eating the sandwich that had prepared for him, he was surprised to find the rattata laying on its back, rubbing its stomach.

Frowning, Takari watched curiously as the rattata, slowly fell asleep.

Before he could return to eating his sandwich he took notice to the watch on his wrist; it was almost five o'clock, making him almost an hour late to receive his pokemon.

In one motion he stuffed the sandwich in his mouth and ran to gather up the items of the picnic. When he had done this he jumped onto his bike, kicked up the kickstand, and promptly burst off.

Had he actually been looking for Pallet Town whilst he was atop the hill he would have easily seen it or at least the path to it but once again he had gotten sidetracked.

Frowning at his flaws, Takari still rushed on as he followed the dirt path that led to Pallet Town. Soon he had noticed a tall red building situated atop a hill. That was most likely Professor Oak's lab.

In his eagerness Takari barely noticed as a loud snap occurred from under his bike and his pedaling suddenly made him go no faster.

Since the path descended he barely took notice to the fact that he no longer controlled his speed. When he had went around to the front of the building, he jumped off of his bike and quickly opened the gate that stood in front Prof. Oak's lab.

After bursting through the door, he immediately spotted Prof. Oak. "Prof. Oak I'm here to get my pokemon."

The old man frowned slightly as he said his next words. "I'm guessing you're Takari... and I' sorry to tell you that there are no more."

Takari looked at the old man for a few seconds before turning around with his head down. _"Dammit, if only I would have woken up on time. Its my fault." _

When he had almost opened the door all the way and was about to leave, found himself being stopped by Prof. Oak's voice. 

"Takari, I have one more pokemon that I could give you... I'll tell you now its not for beginners. Actually even veteran trainers have trouble with this pokemon and its evolved form, so you have a lot of work cut out for you."

Reaching into the front pocket of his lab coat, Prof. Oak pulled out a blue and yellow pokeball. After handing it to Takari he pulled a sleek red device out of the his other lab coat pocket then five regular colored pokeballs.

"Here's your pokedex and here's five pokeballs. Please don't release your pokemon before you go outside." As he said the last sentence he looked oddly nervous.

Nodding, Takari gave a curt 'thank you' before leaving through the still wide open door. As soon as he had exited he heard Prof. Oak's door slamming.

Shrugging he examined the yellow and blue pokeball. It was a quickball so could easily assume that the pokemon he had received was fast; maybe it was a handful because it was hyper and quick.

Maybe Prof. Oak had not wanted him to release the pokemon because it was large.

Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he pressed the button in the center of the pokeball. In a flash of red light his first pokemon was released. He paled as he realized just exactly what his pokemon was.

It was a mankey. One of the most temperamental pokemon in existence.


End file.
